Obama agrees Pakistan intelligence has links to Haqqani network

President Barack Obama agrees with his country's top military officer that
Pakistan's intelligence service has links to the Haqqani network which is
attacking U.S troops in Afghanistan.

Alastair Good

10:53PM BST 06 Oct 2011

Obama explained that the support of the Pakistan government had enabled the U.S to achieve a lot more in Afghanistan than it could have alone but he said that some in the Pakistan government were hedging their bets over the future of Afghanistan and maintaining relationships with "unsavoury characters" in case those characters ended up running the country.

“There is no doubt that there's some connections that the Pakistani military and intelligence services have with certain individuals that we find troubling. And I've said that publicly and I've said it privately to Pakistani officials as well," said Obama.

The president went on to express his belief that some in Pakistan felt an independent Afghanistan would be a threat as it may ally itself with India, a country still seen by many in Pakistan as their “mortal enemy”

“Part of what we want to do is actually get Pakistan to realise that a peaceful approach toward India would be in everybody's interests and would help Pakistan actually develop. Because one of the biggest problems we have in Pakistan right now is poverty, illiteracy, a lack of development, you know, civil institutions that aren't strong enough to deliver for the Pakistani people,” said Obama.

Asked about the potential consequences for Pakistan if it does not adjust this attitude toward an independent Afghanistan, Obama said he would not want aid to flood victims to be withdrawn because of “poor decisions by their intelligence services”, however “we're not going to feel comfortable with a long-term strategic relationship with Pakistan if we don't think that they're mindful of our interests as well."